Need You Now
by camberly
Summary: One lonely night, Sora finds himself reaching out to his past for comfort. Will he regret the decision in the end? WIP


It was amazing how in the moment, when you're all together, everything can seem so perfect. Sora never thought that anything could change the bond that he had shared with Riku and Kairi. Their years together, childhood friends and then later on, fighting for one another, along side each other, against each other all built up a history that no one could touch.

No one except for time.

Eventually, the worlds didn't need them anymore. They were done fighting, they were home and everything was supposed to continue on the exact same way they always had. Sora and Riku would share that competitive spirit that had driven them on all through their childhood, with Kairi cheering them both on from the side lines. They'd spend their weekends away on their island, basking in the sun and escaping responsibilities.

Only that wasn't the way things really happened at all.

Sure, at first, they had tried hard to slip back into their old roles but the first time Sora touched one of those old wooden swords they had played with as a child, memories of those long days fighting for his friends, of watching friends die came back to him, and that innocent fun that he had once found from sparring with his silver haired friend vanished.

The island itself seemed to just draw him back more and more into his memories. The sound of the waves brought him back to Atlantica, the smell of the sand baking under the warm sun sent him to the scorched desert of Agrobah. The rain in the trees was the Deep Jungle. Everywhere there were memories that he just couldn't escape.

It didn't take long before Sora stopped going to the island.

He had always excused the decision as there just being too much to do on the main land. They had school to contend with and Sora had never been a very good student to begin with. Even then, he was together with Kairi and Riku still. They hung out at pizza parlours or the movies instead.

Then Kairi got a boyfriend, and suddenly she was too busy to hang out with them anymore. She moved on, leaving the memories of key blades and other worlds behind in favour of simpler things. Of a normal life. And who could honestly blame her? Sora certainly didn't.

Still, Sora couldn't help but think, that if Kairi hadn't left them then, if she hadn't have broken up that delicately balanced friendship that they had formed, that maybe Sora wouldn't have made the biggest mistake of his life.

Maybe then, Sora wouldn't have been there, sitting on the floor surrounded by old photos at one in the morning, an empty bottle of vodka abandoned on the kitchen counter and another one started beside him.

Running his hands through the tangle of messy brown hair, the light caught the metallic rim of his cell phone drawing Sora's eyes over. Stopping in mid motion, the brunette eyed the device.

He wasn't sure when he moved but the cell phone was in his hand the next moment, his address book open. He didn't want to be alone. He didn't want to be sitting here, going over old memories on his own. If he was going to dwell on the past, it was only fair for him to have company, someone who deserved to dwell over memories just as much as himself. Was he the only one who ever thought about the good old days?

The phone was ringing, Sora realised with a bit of shock. He wasn't sure when he made the decision to actually call; when it had turned from just a passing fancy to a definitive motion eluded the intoxicated brunette but before he could change his mind and hang up the phone, leave the past in the past where it belongs, a familiar voice answered the phone.

Riku hasn't been home drowning in memories like Sora had been. He was drowning in whiskey. He had no real interest in the bitter spirit, aside from the fact that it was the special at the hole in the wall bar that he had stumbled into, a dollar a shot and damn if it wasn't doing the job of getting him good and drunk.

Today, he was dumped. Of course later on when he was retelling the story he'd find some way of making himself look better and it most certainly would have to be himself doing the dumping, but the experience was still too new and raw for him to actually have given it that much thought. In the meantime, he was just hurt.

Taking another shot, Riku made a face as the liquid burned down his throat, as the door he was facing opened up, sending in a blast of icy winter air. A big head of brown hair drew Riku's attention and for a moment he thought just maybe...

But no, that was ridiculous. He was on the other side of town, in the type of dive that Sora would never be seen in. It was loneliness that made him ache for his former best friend. He was looking for companionship, a friend. And that made the afro haired stranger that just walked into the joint resemble his friend for the briefest of moments. Still, now that the thought was in his head, he couldn't help but look up as the door opened again. Stranger things had happened, after all.

Over the low noise of grunge rock the bar was playing, a vaguely pop-ish melody started to play, drawing Riku's attention away from the door. Glancing around him for a moment, his alcohol addled mind finally clued in that it was his cell going off, a long forgotten number flashing up on the screen. Perhaps it was just the whiskey in his veins, but the phone was quickly answered, giving a hoarse greeting, his throat scratchy from the smoke of the bar.

"Sora?"

Sora nearly dropped the phone as he heard the others voice, clutching it with a wide eyed expression of surprise.

"Sora? Is this some sort of practical joke?" The voice on the other end was definitely getting angry and despite his instinct to just hang up, Sora kept his phone open. "I've got caller ID you know."

"...Hi." He finally got out. "Long time."

This time it was Riku's turn to pause, leaving Sora to wonder if he should just leave things like this, before he risked saying something stupid.

"I was thinking about you today you know." The words were out of Sora's mouth before he could stop them. "I mean, I stumbled across some old photos and I was thinking about us, back when we were young. Isn't it amazing how close we used to be back then?" He was rambling and Sora knew it, but he couldn't stop himself all the same. He was afraid that if he stopped talking, he would realise how stupid he was being and then this tentative bridge out to Riku would collapse completely.

"I was just thinking about you too." The answer surprised Sora, and from the quiet way it was uttered, Sora nearly thought he imagined it. I mean, it sounds like the sort of thing that he would make up, not something that Riku would be saying to him.

"Its funny actually, someone just came in who looked like you for a moment and I've been watching the door ever since, thinking that maybe, just maybe I'd get to see you again."

Sora hesitated at those words, before his tongue decided to act before consulting with his brain. "You could see me again. I'm all alone here, you know. I wouldn't mind you visiting. Maybe we could catch up on old times."

Riku's hesitation was clear as the only noise over the static-y connection was a low thrum of guitar instrumental and a soft sigh, and Sora couldn't help but add in, in a soft but pleading voice. "I need you Riku."

The silence stretched for an impossible amount of time, and if it wasn't for the background music, the brunette would have been sure that the connection had been lost. "You still at the same place?" Riku finally inquired, and Sora could feel his heart skip a beat as his stomach leapt to this throat.

"Yeah. You remember the way?"

There was a noise of agreement, and then the line went dead, leaving Sora holding the phone, still not quite believing that the phone conversation actually took place. Could he honestly have been stupid enough to drudge up the past like this? Inviting Riku here?

All of a sudden, reality came crashing back down on Sora. He invited Riku here. Here where his empties were littering the floor, where old Mcdonald's wrappers coated his coffee table like a table cloth, where the proof of his obsession with how things used to be decorated the floor in a series of Polaroid stills and photographs.

Jumping to his feet, stumbling a little at the blood rush to his head, Sora hurried over to the coffee table to pick up the worst of the garbage, working on straightening up his mess, even just a little, so as not to seem so slovenly to the silver haired boy who was visiting for the first time in years.

He didn't get far when the doorbell rang, and with his heart beating in his ears, Sora went to answer it.

As Riku sat in the cab on the way over, hands resting on the knees of his dark jeans, he wondered if he was making a mistake. Sometimes, the past was meant to stay there, tucked away and not ever re explored. Maybe this was just because he was in a weak place today. Maybe this was because he was drunk. He really wasn't sure if it was because he was just insane, or a glutton for punishment but both of those sounded plenty feasible as well.

Was it worth it to open these wounds back up again?

He sat out in the cab, in front of Sora's apartment building for a long while, letting the metered fare run up, trying to make a choice, the short conversation replaying in his mind. IN the end, it was that softly spoken 'I need you' that had him handing over the cash for his ride before climbing out to tackle this hurtle. He just wasn't strong enough to withstand this temptation. He wasn't ready to live in the now, when the past was just too appealing.

Heading through the entrance doors that never locked properly, he found his way to Sora's apartment, ringing the doorbell. And when that tousle haired boy answered it, out of breath, cheeks red with whatever it was he had been doing, Riku did exactly what his instincts desired, and what every ounce of logic told him not to do. He kissed him.


End file.
